At every stage of creating our merry and bright Christmas decor I’ve felt excited and energized. I’ve loved watching our girls’ reactions and having their enthusiasm to help with some of the projects. And it was no different with this easy DIY Christmas mantel decor.

Our fireplace mantel is grand, its’ tall and bold, and we just love it. But sometimes it’s difficult to decorate something so formidable. My goals were to reuse something I already had and make it into something new, have a ceiling feature, and not spend much money on anything new. I think I’ve hit the mark with these easy DIY Christmas mantel decor ideas!

Easy DIY Christmas mantel decor

I’ve seen people create garland with ornaments and it’s beautiful, but our mantel is just too big to handle garland with small ornaments. And while the jumbo plastic bulbs are cool, they’re expensive – so that option was out. I had extra honeycomb paper balls and knew they’d look awesome incorporated with colorful balloons. I ordered a bag of standard colors and got to work. Kids can help by sorting the colors and sticking the balloons into the strip.

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Colorful balloon garland

I used my electric balloon pump and kept them balloon size on the small side. Adding them to the balloon strip was easy, just alternating colors, and shortly the garland began to take shape. I imagined it looking one way along my mantel, but wasn’t sure it would work. Well, I’m totally happy to announce that I got it to drape and flow just right. You know that feeling when something turns out how you wanted it to? Yep, that was totally me all weekend, every time I looked at our mantel.

Adding the pastel LED lights is a simple way to add sparkle and brightness. It’s so pretty at night and the wire wraps nicely through the balloon garland. After enjoying the lights over the weekend I realized I could wrap more around my laser-cut word for the wall art on the mantel. My youngest, Quinn, helped by adding batteries to the LED lights.

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Merry and bright canvas art

The canvas wall art is my re-purposed piece. I decoupaged fabric onto the square canvas years ago. It’s moved around our house a lot, but I was ready to switch it up a bit. I traced the large letters to spell out MERRY across the top, and then filled in the letters with off-white acrylic paint. I decided to only do one coat because I liked the way the design still came through. Then I ordered the ‘Bright’ laser-cut wood and painted it yellow. I think the colorful LED lights look so fun wrapped around the word. It reminds me of a neon sign! And the battery pack is hidden behind the canvas.

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DIY Faux snow

Finally, I needed a ceiling feature. I found a great photo of a hot cocoa bar with large marshmallows strung from the ceiling. It reminded me of snow and that’s when the idea hit. Instead of marshmallows, I strung cotton balls and taped them to the ceiling. Cheapest DIY craft ever and it’s pretty cute. Quinn helped me string the cotton balls and spread them out onto each string.

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Colorful Christmas decorations

This year things are bold around here – the colors, decor ideas, and the meaning of Christmas in our hearts. I hope you find inspiration and joy in our Christmas decor! No matter what your style, budget, or available time – I hope you will create – I hope you’ll try out a new idea or bring new life to something you already have. I have had so much fun thinking of merry and bright craft projects to give our family room a joyful vibe this Christmas. Thanks for stopping by – I’d love to hear your comments and ideas!

Colorful Christmas mantel inspiration

I have found some gorgeous, colorful, and inspirational Christmas mantels out there. I’m always blown away and inspired by all the creativity out there! Check these beauties out:

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More colorful Christmas resources

• Sensational merry and bright Christmas tree
• Easy hot cocoa bar + free printable
• DIY colorful Christmas village
• Simple merry and bright tablescape
• Free printable gift tags – coming soon
• Colorful Christmas home tour – coming soon